Kami's Favor
by narutoobsessedgurl
Summary: Kami asks Minato for a favor, one that he would gladly do. To go back to Earth and help his child, since Naruto was too kind of a soul to get hurt more. Bet there is one other he must watch, one other kind child who he will accept into his family happily. The two children become adoptive brother and sister as they are in the Leaf, and maybe even something more? FEM!Gaara x Naruto
1. The Favor

"Minato..." Whispered Kami, who had called the man before her. "I have a favor I wish for you to do."

"What is it?" He asked.

"If you are willing, I want you to go down to Earth, and you will be able to raise your son." She said.

"I'll do it! Whatever it is!" He said immediately.

"You see, I've been checking up in people down there, and it's come to my attention that two of my purest souls are being treated horribly. I want you to love these two souls, one of them being your son, and the other being a young girl. You will adopt the girl, and raise the two children, train them and love them. This wasn't what I had originally what I had planned, but I want this to happen, and know it will be good for others." Kami said.

"Yes Kami-sama! I would be overjoyed to do so!" Minato said.

"Alright child, breath once again, and live on Earth." She said.

Everything shined white, and Minato found himself plopped down on the ground. He smiled and noticed a piece of paper next to him that had information written about this girl on it. He ran towards the village she was in, it was time he found his new daughter, and then have her meet his son.

As he read over the information and looked at the picture, he was surprised, he now understood why Kami wanted to help her. He raced continuously through the desert until he got to Suna. He went got in without being noticed. He went into a shop and bought a long, plastic clear tube, easily 2 feet long and ½ foot in diameter that had a white plastic cap. He also bought a light teal cloth kimono with a deep crimson obi, the size needed for the girl. He walked outside and filled the container with sand, and capped it.

Walking around, he start hearing shouts coming from down the road.

"FREAK! Why don't you die!"

"She's a monster! Don't even look at her!"

"I told you to stay away from her!"

"Go Away!"

Minato frowned and walked towards where the shouts were coming from. Upon getting there, he noticed parents taking their kids away from a small red-headed girl, her hair tied up in pig tails. The girl was sobbing while holding her small teddy bear.

He walked forward and kneeled in front of her. He out his hand on her head and smiled. The girl looked up immediately, and it seemed she wasn't used to the foreign touch.

"Hello, I'm here to take care of you. Would you like to some back to my village with me? You can meet my son, and we can be a family together." He said.

"But... aren't you afraid of me? I'm a monster." She said.

He stroked her hair and smiled sadly. "Honey, you're not a monster. You're a human being, just as any other person is. You are a hero, because you keep a very special monster locked up inside of you. You are protecting all of these people, they just aren't smart enough to realize it."

She sniffled. "Really?"

"Yes, really. Now, would you like to go home with me? To a different village? I promise you, I won't let people there treat you how you are treated here." He said.

The girl brightened and got a hopeful look in her eyes. "Y-yes please!"

"Okay, so, what your name?" He asked, even though he already knew.

"Gaara, Gaara Sabaku." She said.

"A very pretty name Gaara-chan! You can just call me Tou-chan, okay?" He said.

The girl looked surprised. "You want to be called Tou-chan?" She asked.

"Well, you will be a part of our family now, my daughter. So you should call me Tou-chan, yes?" Minato said.

She smiled brightly. "Yes!"

He laughed and took her small frame in his arms, and jumped onto the rooftops and out of the village undetected. He carried the small girl with him as he sped through the desert and forest at an almost inhuman speed.

As he looked down at Gaara, he realized she could just as easily be from his family. She had the same color hair as Kushina, and she had a couple of shades different color eyes than him, with a shape close to Kushina's eyes. And the facial features matched up as well. She could easily be from their family, and no one would think twice about it.

He was very happy, he would get to raise his son along with this cute little girl that obviously needed a family. Both were at the age of 7, so they would start the academy in one year. Hopefully they would be like brother and sister by then. He hoped they would get along, and just be a great family. He also hoped Naruto would be okay when he showed up, hoping they would have respected his last wish.

He snuck into his own village as well, his son being his first priority. As he walked around, he shifted Gaara up to his shoulders, and the girl was surprised by how colorful this village was. She looked around in amazement and let out 'oohs' and 'ahhs'.

Minato chuckled. "Like it Gaara-chan?"

"It's so pretty!" She said, happily, as smile gracing her face. "Ne, Tou-chan... where are we going?" She asked.

"Well we're looking for your nii-san." He said.

"I have a nii-san?" She asked, and Minato nodded.

"His name is Naruto. You'll meet him soon. I'm afraid I haven't been around though, you see, I was killed back 8 years ago, but I got Kami to let me come back to life." He said.

"Really? That's so cool Tou-chan!" She said.

He rounded the corner and saw his son, eight years old now, crying on a swing as parents came and took their kids away from him. Shouting hurtful things just as in the Village hidden in the Sand.

"Let's get out of here!"

"What are you doing? I told you not to talk to him!"

"Watch out! It's... It's him again!"

"Why don't you just go away?... G-Go away! You! You freak!"

"Freak!"

"Freak!"

Naruto sniffled on the swing, crying and wiping his eyes as the tears stained his khaki shorts. Minato felt extreme sadness wash over him, seeing his child in so much pain. He looked up at Gaara, who's eyes were wide, staring at the boy.

'He's... he's just like me!' She thought.

Minato took Gaara off his shoulders and took her hand, leading her over to the boy. He walked in front of the crowd, and heard several people gasp.

"I-It can't be!"

"Minato-sama!"

"Hokage-sama! You've returned!"

"He came back! I bet to deal with that thing!"

"Yeah! He's finishing what he started!"

Minato didn't pay attention to them, and simply walked to the boy, guiding Gaara along with him. He stopped in front of the boy and looked down at him fondly.

"Naruto." He whispered, smiling, feeling tears run down his face as well.

The boy opened his eyes and looked up, tears still dripping from them.

"W-Who are you?" He asked.

"Oh Naruto.. How you've grown...7 years ago, on the night of your birth, I died, fighting the Nine Tailed Fox Demon. I ended up dying, but Kami let me come back to life after I pleaded with him. Naruto... I'm your Tou-chan." He said.

"W-What?" He asked, his eyes widening. "Is... is that really true?"

"Yes son," Minato whispered. "It really is."

Naruto cried more and jumped onto the man, hugging him for dear life. Minato hugged his son back, but also picked up Gaara, and hugged her too. Tears still came down his face.

"You two have had the same horrible childhood so far... but not anymore, I will protect you two from it from now on. You are my children, and I am your father." He whispered to them. "But most importantly, I will love you, with all of my heart."

The two children clung to him, and covered his shirt in tears. They were finally going to be loved! And have someone to care for them, and be there for them! Just like the normal kids!

"What do you say we go get some lunch huh? What do you kids like to eat?" He asked, putting them down and taking each of their hands with one of his.

"Ramen!" Naruto said, wiping tears from his face.

"Well that's good Naruto, I happen to love ramen as well. What about you Gaara-chan, do you like ramen?" Minato said.

The girl nodded, wiping away her tears as well. "Ramen's good."

"Great! I know just the place then." Minato said, and started walking down the street, the crowd who had thought he would kill the child, instead saying he was his father and taking him for lunch.

"Now, Naruto-kun, this is Gaara-chan, Gaara-chan, Naruto-kun. You two are adoptive brother and sister, Gaara being my adopted child. Though I must say, you looks like you belong in the family, my wife looked so much like you, and you have similar face features and eye color to me." Minato said.

"Hi Gaara-chan." Naruto said, around his dad.

"Hi Naruto-kun." She said back.

"Hey, tou-chan, umm, could me and Gaara-chan play together after dinner?" Naruto asked.

"Sure, but we should probably do some shopping first. We need more clothes for the two of you, as well as things for your rooms, and groceries. I'll have to clean around the house, since it's been dormant for 7 years, but you two can play in the backyard while I do that." He said. "Oh, we're here, come on." He said.

Minato lifted the flaps to the Ichiraku Ramen stand and placed both of his kids on the stools, then sat two the left of them, making sure to not sit one of them next to the man sitting there, just to be safe. But he also wanted to the brother and sister to bond, and to love each other, and what better time to start than the present? The two kids started talking immediately, it seemed as though they had an instant connection, and Minato was glad for it. He ordered three bowls of ramen, and gave Gaara the tube of sand, knowing she could protect herself with the sand should something happen. She smiled and hugged him, thanking him for thinking of it, then sat down. He listened and smiled as Gaara started telling Naruto about her ability to wield sand, which Naruto thought was so cool.

Minato heard someone enter and sit beside him. The man ordered some ramen and Minato snapped his face towards the man. It couldn't be!

"Kakashi?" He questioned.

The man stiffened, and before he knew it, his own student was coming at him with a knife. Just as it was getting to his throat though, sand stopped the kunai. Kakashi's eyes widened.

"You won't hurt my Tou-chan!" Gaara said, standing on her stool, her hand outstretched, willing the sand to stop the attack.

"Wow! Gaara-chan! That was awesome!" Naruto said.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, how did a girl, only 7 by the looks of it, do that? And where did the sand come from? "Who are you, and why are posing as The 4th Hokage?" He demanded.

"I'm not posing, I am him. And do you really have to attack me and interrogate me 'Kashi? I'm having dinner with my kids." Minato said. "And you of all people know how sacred ramen is to me! You, Obito, and Rin suffered through enough team meetings with ramen to know that!"

Kakashi's visible eye widened. Okay, that was not common knowledge at all, few people even knew who was on their team, much less that they had team meetings at a ramen stand, because Minato loved the stuff so much. "No... you can't be." He said, but at the same time, he lowered his kunai.

"Oh, so the clothes, and that information isn't enough? Jeez 'Kashi, I was hoping you had lightened up over the past few years. You've always been to serious. Add a little bit of the way Obito thought to your life! Hey, have you found a girl yet? What about that girl that was kind of crazy? You know, purple hair or something? She seemed like she would have livened up your life." He said, sipping some tea from his cup.

"H-How do you know all that?" Kakashi asked.

"'Kashi, you honestly don't think I'm the real Minato? Tch, well, if you don't believe me, go ahead and not believe me, but don't attack me or my kids." Minato said.

Gaara sat back on her stool, but left her sand container open, and looked at Kakashi warily out of the corner of her eye, something Naruto was doing as well. They all ate, and Minato paid for him and his kids, then took their hands, him sealing Gaara's sand into a scroll for now.

He walked them around town, getting new clothes, stuff for their rooms that they saw and liked, and food for them. People would glare at Naruto, but then see who was with him, and look surprised, but then, Minato noticed some people were making the connection of father and son between him and Naruto. He had even run across, who was surprised to see him, but told him he knew Naruto was his son the whole time, but asked if the girl was his, since she actually did look quite a bit like him and Kushina.

They got back to the house, and Naruto and Gaara played in the back while Minato cleaned the house, sweeping and getting out all the dust.

After all the rooms were cleaned out, Minato called the kids in and they did their rooms.

They painted Naruto's orange and he had light colored hardwood floors. He had a single bed with plain blue covers and pillow cases. He had a dresser, a desk, a night stand, and a bookcase in his room, all which were made of the same colored light wood as the floor. He had this and that around the room, things he had found at the market such as posters and nick knacks. He also had an orange stuffed fox on the bed, something that Minato found ironic.

Gaara had wanted her room to be painted teal, just like her eyes and her floor was dark hardwood. She had gotten a window seat in her room, which she loved and had put a long white cushion on. She had gotten yellow covers and pillow cases for her bed and she had her stuffed teddy bear on the bed. Her bed, desk, dresser, and bookcase were made of dark woods.

They had a play room Minato had made that was painted light green and had a white carpet. It was filled with toys and had a small table and chairs that had coloring books and sheet of paper as well as crayons and markers on it.

There was other areas in the house as well, a training room, kitchen, dining room, living room, family room, library, Minato's room, and 5 bathrooms, one for each of the kids rooms, Minato's room, and 2 for the rest of the house.

After a quick dinner, Minato tucked both of his kids in bed, kissed them goodnight, and went to the library to look for a few scrolls with jutsu he could start teaching his kids.

* * *

**Hey guys! Just started this new story and I'm thinking it's a promising one! For anyone who had read this before I fixed it thanks to a review that made me realize I had mentioned something wrong about something he had said to Kakashi, sorry! I fixed it, and just changed it a little bit. **

**Also, some of you have asked or said why I over exaggerated the whole thing with Naruto and Gaara getting yelled at by the villagers. I did not over exaggerate it in any way, as I did not do anything crazy like have people try to kill him, rip his eyes out, or rape him. (I've read stories where all of these have happened) Instead, I was thinking about doing a different story, and wrote up a first chapter for that, and needed the speech where Naruto talked to Gaara about being in the same situation as him, but he was saved by his friends. Which was right after the first fight they had, and were lying on the ground. (I'm a bit obsessive about getting things write for quotes, so I always get them just as Masashi Kishimoto wrote them.) When I decided not to do that story, I thought of this one, and realized there was a scene that showed them getting yelled at when they were kids. ^^ That was exactly what they said, except for Gaara, where I had to change the pronoun to she. And figured if they asked why didn't they just die, that they would hope that Minato would finish the job on Naruto. **

**Anyways, if you didn't read that, then don't get all frazzled at me for not telling you that I was right. Go ahead and look up the episode if you want to, it matches the phrases in the exact order they were said. **

**All of you that read my story and followed and reviewed, thank you tons! **

**And even if you read my story, and decided you didn't like it, and stopped reading it, thanks anyways, for at least giving it a try. **

**BYE!**

**~narutoobsessedgurl**


	2. Meeting with Sarutobi

_**In The Sand Village**_

"Yay! The monster's gone!"

"We're all going to be okay!"

The Kazekage heard all of this being yelled outside of his window. While it might be so 'great' for the village, they don't know what a mistake they had made!

He slammed his fist down on the desk as another search team appeared, empty handed. They all had looks of sorrow on their face. While they didn't exactly like the girl, the Kazekage had lost his daughter, and they all assumed he would be angry because of this.

They assumed wrong.

No, the Kazekage was not angry because he lost his daughter, but because he lost his ultimate weapon.

'Suna had one chance at becoming a feared nation, and she was the greatest factor in it, but now, these idiots have gone and gotten my weapon to leave!' He thought angrily. 'She was supposed to be the key to keeping the other nations in fear, especially since we have much fewer forces than other countries due to lack of funding, but now, we have no jinchurriki! It was bad enough we only had one, while most other countries had two or more! And we had the weakest demon, even though it manifested itself well. Where the hell did she go!? Where would she have even thought of going? Now we will have to completely reconsider everything I had carefully planned!'

"Find her." He barked out at the next group who came in. "I don't care what it takes, get her back, Suna needs her."

The team nodded and jumped out the window, getting on with their search and running out of Suna.

The Kazekage rubbed his forehead and sighed. 'One of these teams better come back with my weapon, or else.' He thought.

_**Back In The Leaf Village**_

'Hmmm... I like Gaara, she's nice. But I don't know... I mean, this is all so sudden. I have a tou-chan, and Gaara as an adoptive sister... but I'm not sure, what if they are pretending to be nice and are just going to make me sad again?' He thought as he ate his cereal and looked at his adoptive sister and dad.

'This all seems too good to be true.' Gaara thought as she swirled around her cereal. 'I mean, one day, everything is the usual, people yelling at me and screaming that I'm a monster. The next, I am suddenly in a different village, with people who look at me, and smile, and I have a tou-chan and Naruto. What if one day, everyone here thinks I am a monster like everyone in my old village? And I get thrown out, and am hated, just the same as before.'

'I have to have a meeting with Sarutobi, no doubt he's already heard rumors about my return. I should bring Gaara and Naruto, I just can't seem to trust people anymore after how I found Naruto. Why? Why would my people ignore my final wish, and blatantly disrespect my son? I need to talk to Sarutobi.' Minato thought.

They ate their breakfast quietly, and once they were done, Minato told them they were going to see someone, and to get dressed. He already had on his regular attire of Jounin vest, blue shinobi shirt and pants, but had taken off his Fourth Hokage jacket, and left it hanging on a hook on his door.

When he called for the kids to come down, he smiled. Gaara was wearing the light teal kimono with the red obi he had gotten for her in Sand, and she had her hair still up in it's pigtails, as well as blue shinobi sandals on. He noted that she ha stuck her jar of sand in her obi and it was tied against her right side. Naruto was wearing black shinobi pants, as well as an orange shirt with an Uzumaki red spiral on it. His hair was crazy and sticking up as always, and he sported blue shinobi sandals.

"Tou-chan, where are we going?" Gaara asked as Minato locked the door, took there hands and started leading them down the street.

"Oh, we're just going to take a little trip to see the 3rd Hokage." He replied.

"Old Man Hokage? Alright!" Naruto cheered.

"Who?" Gaara asked.

"The Hokage, he's the leader of this village. Much like the Kazekage, he controls everything that goes on in the village. He also commands the ninja of the village." Minato said.

"Tou-chan! I'm gonna be a ninja! Believe it!" Naruto chanted.

Minato laughed. "Good to hear Naruto-kun, are you sure though? The ninja life always threatens death."

"Yeah I'm sure! No way am I gonna die before I become Hokage! Believe it!" Naruto yelled.

Minato just laughed. "Okay son, I'm gonna hold you to that. Though trust me, the job isn't worth the title." He said.

"Huh?" Naruto and Gaara asked together.

"What? You two haven't realized it yet? Why don't you kids look up at the Hokage mountain. Tell me, do you recognize the face farthest to the right?" Minato asked.

The two kids looked at the mountain and their eyes widened. That was their dad's face! They looked back up at their father.

"Tou-chan! That's you!" They both chorused together.

"Yep, that's me. I was the Fourth Hokage." He said.

"So is that why we are going to see that guy? So you can get your job back?" Gaara asked.

"No Gaara-chan, I think my days as Hokage are over. I want to take care of you two instead. If I became Hokage again, I would have no time for you two anymore." Minato said. 'And that Naruto was treated awfully even though it was my dying wish for him to be treated as a hero. Never mind that, they both deserve a father after so many years of being alone, it's only fair that I make up for lost time.' He thought.

They arrived at the Hokage Building, and walked upstairs to the waiting room. Minato walked up to the assistant, who flushed and scurried to let him in right away. He walked into the office with Gaara and Naruto holding his hands.

Sarutobi looked up from his desk and dropped his pipe out of his mouth because it had dropped open in amazement.

"Minato?" He asked.

"Yes Sarutobi, it's me." He said.

Sarutobi was no fool, just because there was a rumor going around about the Hokage being brought back to life and this man claimed to be him, didn't mean he was the real Minato at all.

"Oh? Well, how would I be sure of it?" He asked, standing and walking in front of the man.

"Who else would have known that Naruto is my son? Well, except for Kushina, you, Jiraiya, and Tsunade. I don't think 'Kashi had even realized it. Then again, he was a rather clever child when I was alive. Wow, it's scary to think he is 21 already. He's of legal drinking age now, hm, I'll have to go have drink with him to celebrate those birthdays I missed. Sorry, got off topic. But yeah, everybody who knows Naruto is my son are loyal to the Leaf village. So why would I not be Minato? And why would someone even decide to act as me?" Minato said.

"To gain the role of Hokage." Sarutobi said.

"Oh yeah, Sarutobi, about that-" Minato started.

"Tou-chan! I"m bored!" Naruto complained.

"Naruto-kun, we've only been here for a few minutes." Gaara said.

"I know, but me and you are just standing here Gaara-chan!" Naruto whined.

"You know what Gaara-chan, Naruto-kun is right. Why don't you two play while me and Hokage-sama talk?" Minato said.

"Tou-chan, are you sure?" Gaara asked, a bit of concern on her face.

"Of course, it will just be boring adult talk. Sarutobi, do you mind if they use the room off to the right?" Minato asked.

"No problem." Sarutobi said to the kids.

Naruto grabbed Gaara's hand and pulled her to the room. The door closed and Sarutobi put a silencing technique around the room.

"Sarutobi, I don't wish to be Hokage again. I want to raise my children, I want to raise them so badly. They both spent their whole lives being neglected and without parents. The little bits of kindness I showed to them the first time I met them were so surprising to them. And that kills me inside! I just want my kids to get the love they deserve!" Minato said.

Sarutobi was silent, this was definitely Minato. What person would impersonate Minato, pick up his kid and another child he had never seen before, gone to him and told him he DIDN'T want to be Hokage, he just wanted to raise his kids. "Minato... The girl... is she yours?" He asked.

Minato sighed, this was definitely not one thing he wanted to discuss. "No, but she looks so similar to me and Kushina it's disturbing."

"So you just kidnapped dome child because she looked like you and your dead wife?" He asked.

"No. The only reason I was able to come back to life was Kami wanted me to protect and love her purest souls, Naruto and Gaara. So I technically kidnapped Gaara, even though she came willingly. I am going to officially adopt her." Minato said.

"So... just who's kid is Gaara?" Sarutobi asked.

"Gaara in the jinchurriki of the Ichibi. She is also the Kazekage's daughter." Minato stated.

"You kidnapped the Kazekage's daughter?!" Sarutobi yelled, thankful for the sound barriers.

"Yes, but by the way she was treated, it would be a surprise if he was even looking for her." Minato said. "No one was even with her to watch over her, she was just standing in the street crying, while she was being called a monster and asked why she didn't just die. I found Naruto in the exact same position."

Minato walked forward and grabbed Sarutobi's coat, looking the man in the eyes. "Why? Why Sarutobi? Why was no one watching my son? Where is Jiraiya?! Or Tsunade!? Their his godparents! And even if they didn't take him in, why didn't you, or Kakashi!" He yelled suddenly anger being clearly shown on his face. "Why did you have him live all alone! No one to love him or care for him! I come back from the dead only to see my son crying and the villagers treating him like trash! Why!? WHY DID NO ONE TAKE CARE OF HIM!" He yelled, shaking the old man.

Tears started to run down Minato's face. "I was an orphan... I know what it feels like to be alone." He whispered. "But at least I had friends, and even and someone to watch over me, and take care of me when I felt sick, even if she didn't truly care about me... I can't imagine what it would have been like... to have everyone hating you, because of something you have no control over... but my son does. I promised myself, that when I had kids, they would never go through the same pain I did as a child. But my kid! My kid only went through worse! Do you know how painful it was for me to see Naruto crying like that! I can't even think about how many times he must have cried like that, because it makes me just want to kill every villager who has every done him wrong!"

Minato let him go and fell back onto his butt, he buried his face in his hands and continued to cry. "I know I shouldn't want to feel like that... but the loneliness my son has gone through... I know that unbearable pain... I can tell. Though he looks like a ball of sunshine on the outside, it's all hidden behind a mask. A mask that Naruto, Gaara, and I all wore much to early in our lives... I wasn't able to break that mask and be truly happy until I found Kushina, then Jiraiya and so on. And I want to make sure I'm the one that breaks that mask for my children. But I will not allow it to be so long until they break their masks, I just wish I could have been brought back to life early enough so that I could have prevented them from ever having to use that mask."

"Minato... where did this come from? I've never seen you like this." Sarutobi said.

"That's because before I wasn't afraid my child had the same childhood I had. But now both of mine have had a childhood similar to mine, only worse. Sarutobi, I needed to tell you that I was alive, but you cannot convince me to take back the job as Hokage. I'm sorry... I need to be there for my kids." Minato said.

"I understand Minato. Now go... be with your kids, and finally make Naruto-kun and, what was it, Gaara? Yes, Gaara, make them happy." Sarutobi said, smiling.

"Thank you, Sarutobi." He said. Then he opened the door, got his kids, and walked out of the office to find the adoption desk. He supposed he would technically have to sign the papers for Naruto too.

Sarutobi sighed and rubbed his forehead as he sat down. Now, if the Kazekage asked him if he had seen his child, how would he get around that one...


	3. Training and Some Family Fun

"Alright kids, today, I am going to give you your first training session." Minato said, Gaara and Naruto standing in front of him. "As long as you two aren't having second thoughts about being ninjas."

"No way tou-chan! I'm gonna be Hokage, so I need as much training as possible!" Naruto said.

Gaara clutched her head. "Tou-chan, mother is yelling at me!" She complained.

"What Gaara?" Minato asked, concerned as he kneeled in front of Gaara.

"Mother, she's yelling at me to kill you and Naruto-kun! But I don't want to kill you! You're my tou-chan! And my Naruto-kun!" Gaara said.

"Gaara-chan, do you mind using a bit of chakra?" Minato asked as he lifted her shirt to reveal her stomach.

"Okay Tou-chan." She said, and used a bit of chakra to make her sand crawl up a tree.

Minato looked at her seal and his eyes widened. It was so poorly made! Gaara would constantly be influenced by her demon, as well as going to the point that she couldn't sleep or he would take over. He sighed at how horrible it must have been for Gaara these past seven years. He bit his thumb and drew kanji over the existing one, so that he could fix her seal and make it more like Naruto's, where she could still tap on the demon's chakra, but wouldn't get the side effects. He sealed it again and Gaara froze.

"Tou-chan? What did you do? I can't hear mother anymore." She said.

"Gaara-chan, that wasn't your mother. That was the demon that is sealed inside of you. Unfortunately, the people in Sand didn't do a good job of sealing, and you were directly affected by the demon. That's why you heard it's voice, as well as you couldn't sleep." He explained.

"So... I can sleep now? And I won't hear the demon anymore?" She asked.

"No musume, you won't." He said.

"Thank you tou-chan!" She yelled, wrapping her arms around her father.

Minato chuckled. "No need for thanks. You're my child Gaara, parents are supposed to help their children. And I would help you and Naruto without thought."

"Gaara-chan, do you really have a demon inside of you?" Naruto asked.

"Yes Naruto, she does." Minato said. "And there is something I should tell you. You do as well."

Both his children looked at him, their eyes wide. "Really?"

"Yes. Naruto, Gaara, both of you have demons sealed inside of you. But this does not mean that you are a demon. You are simply the container. Think of it this way, if you have a sandwich in a bag, then does that make the bag a sandwich?" Minato asked.

"No, it's still a bag. The sandwich is on the inside, but it doesn't make the bag a sandwich." Gaara said.

"It's exactly like that." Minato explained. "You have a demon inside of you, but that does not make you the demon, it simply makes you the container. So in my example you're the bag, while you have the sandwich inside of you."

"Oh, I get it." Naruto said.

"Well, Naruto, you have the Nine Tailed Fox inside of you, the Kyuubi. While Gaara, you have the One Tailed Tanuki inside of you, the Shukaku. Some say they have their own names, but there is nothing to confirm it. Naruto, yours is the strongest demon while Gaara, yours is the weakest demon, though your demon has more of an effect on you. Now every jinchurriki has some kind of marking on them to show they are a jinchurriki, though most would just think it was some kind of birthmark or scar. Naruto, your whisker marks are yours, while Gaara, the black rings around your eyes are yours. Now both of you can contact your demons, by either them calling you into your mind, or going into your mind yourself when you are in a dangerous situation. The demons will also heal you at an accelerated rate, and even be able to prevent you from dying where other people would have died. Such as a kunai or sword grazing your heart. While everyone else would die from that wound, you would live. You also can get poisons into your system and they will not affect you, even the deadliest poison. Copious amounts of chakra are also included, though it makes you have bad chakra control, which means we should focus on your chakra control, as well as teach you higher ranking jutsu, as any jutsu under the rank of B would be hard for you two, while jutsu with the rank of E will be impossible for you to preform while they are easy for other ninja. Most ninja would rather be in your position though, where B, A, S, and SS are much easier. So, let's get to work." Minato said.

"Yes Tou-chan!" They said.

He started them off with the task of walking up trees, something they both found was incredibly hard, and they put in too much chakra, and flew off the tree. He sat on the steps of their back porch and watched as they made their way up and marked the point that they flew off. He added in tips about how to get as far as possible as they continued. He stared in amazement as they both continued for hours, where most kids would be tired after about 20 tries. But they continued and continued well into the afternoon until Minato had them stop to feed them lunch.

They kept going after lunch, both wanting to be able to do it. They continued until Minato had them to stop to eat dinner. He had them relax after that, even though they wanted to continue. He didn't want them to use too much chakra, after all, you could die from that. They sat around the table and talked for the next hour or so, until Minato put them to bed, and promised they could continue the next day.

They had both done about the same, getting about a quarter up the tree, even though they hadn't had any training with chakra before. Minato had to say he was surprised. They were getting the hang of it, and he had no doubt they would learn very fast due to their yearning to get stronger.

_3 weeks later_

Minato smiled as he stood at the sink. His kids were eating breakfast behind him, they thought he was just washing his plate, but he wasn't doing that at all. At the sink, he was filling water balloons and putting them into a bucket that sat on the counter.

He filled up a bunch of the colorful balloons and already had a bucket full of rubber balloons stored in his closet for the next jutsu they were learning.

For the past few weeks, he had been having his kids get better chakra control, by teaching them to walk up trees, on water, and then teaching them to make a leaf float up to 20 feet above their heads, and spin it as well.

He finally thought they were ready to start the next part of training, the jutsu themselves, but they would still have to practice their chakra control at night. They were getting pretty good at it, better than most kids their age, and about as good as average kids finishing the academy. Still not that good, but there was nothing immediate he could do about it.

Though this next jutsu would help, for it required okay control of chakra, but that wasn't why he was teaching them it. Only two people knew the jutsu at this point, him and Jiraiya. It was his legacy, and he was going to teach it to his two kids.

Once they finished breakfast, Minato led Naruto and Gaara outside and stopped them, and put a water balloon in each of their hands.

"Tou-chan, what is this for?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah Tou-chan, what's with the water balloons?" Naruto asked.

"Easy kids, today, I'm going to teach you a new jutsu, and this will be the first step." He said.

"A new jutsu! Really?! Alright!" Naruto cheered.

"Yep, so what you're going to do, is spin your chakra around, almost like making a whirlpool, until it pops the water balloon like this." He said, having the water balloon explode into pieces. "Now it has to pop like that, not just opening up on one side and having it spill out."

"Alright!" They both said, and got to work trying to pop the balloon. Minato went inside to do house work, and as he started putting laundry into the washer and dryer, outside the window, he heard.

'pop' "Dang!"

'pop' "Grrrr!"

'pop' "Stupid thing!"

'pop' "Pop right!"

'pop' "Aaaggh!"

Then he heard the sound of a pop, then a yelp.

"Naruto-kun!" He heard shouted. Then he heard the sound of two more pops as Naruto laughed.

"Gaara-chan! No fair!" He heard. Then he heard the sounds of a bunch of popping and giggling come from outside. He looked out the window to see the two flinging water balloons at each other and getting soaked as they simply laughed and continued.

Minato smiled. He would have to buy more water balloons, but it was definitely worth it. He ran outside and picked up water balloons as well, and started throwing them at his kids.

Naruto and Gaara laughed. They looked at each other and smiled. Gaara ran over to the side of the house as Naruto and Minato were fighting with water balloons, and she turned the faucet and brought the hose on Minato. Naruto ran over to her and they both aimed the house straight at Minato as he was soaked.

They were laughing uncontrollably and Minato just grinned and ran forward. He picked them both up and started tickling them, but they couldn't even run since he was holding them.

The family laughed loudly as water was sprayed onto them and they had a tickle fight in the middle of the backyard. They stopped after awhile and Minato had them both go in and change into bathing suits, telling them training was over for now and they were going to have some fun.

They all changed into bathing suits and Minato got towels, as he looked at his two kids.

Naruto wore bright orange swim trunks that had blue waves at the bottom of it. Gaara was wearing a red bathing suit that had ruffles at the top that matched the color of her hair. Minato was wearing white swim trunks with orange flames at the bottom, much like his old coat.

Since they lived at the Namikaze compound, they had a lot of space. Minato only had one house built that was rather large, and just used that one for his family, freeing up a lot of space for a large back and front yard, as well as a garden, and they even had a lake at the back of their compound.

Minato had built a dock at the lake, and built a swimming platform in the middle of the lake. They also had kayaks and canoes, but he was just going to take his kids swimming for now. It was the place he had taught them how to water walk, which was better than most places in Konoha to learn that. It would have either been a hot spring or a freezing cold river. But the lake in the compound was crystal clear and usually nice and cool.

He and the kids raced to the lake, and Minato let Naruto and Gaara win, though they both crossed at the same time. They started both saying that they won, but Minato said they both tied, saving them from a fight, though with them it most likely would have just have been a playful argument.

They played in the lake for the rest of the day. Minato had watched happily as Gaara and Naruto had made a game where they could see if they could make a category, who would make the best jump for the category. Making things like 'Lamest Jump' or 'Coolest Jump' or even, 'Jump That Makes The Most Water Splash Up.' They had just swam around at some points. They had seen which kid could swim the fastest. Who could stay underwater the longest. Who could swim the farthest.

And they had even gotten Minato to show them how to kayak, and had gone around the lake. Naruto being the only one to fall over because he had reached out to pick up a frog and leaned way to far. Gaara had laughed really hard at that, even Naruto did!

Gaara had picked up a water lily, cutting off all but the flower and the leaves surrounding it. Naruto had asked why and she had replied that she would dry it, then frame it and put it up in her room so she wouldn't ever forget that day. Minato had smiled, it warmed his heart that his kids were beginning to be truly happy.

What they hadn't known was that he had been taking photos the whole day. Well, they had known a few times when he said they were going to take pictures. He had made clones to hold the camera to get a good picture. They had taken one while they were kayaking, one while they picnicked on the beach for lunch, and Minato's favorite, one while they were on the dock. That one had him in the middle with Naruto and Gaara on his sides. Naruto was smiling widely and doing a peace sign, Gaara was smiling and had her water lily on her lap, and Minato had his arms around them and was smiling happily.

That night, after he had put his kids to bed from the exhausting fun day, he had the photos developed and bought a frame, as well as another for Gaara's water lily, and a photo album.

He got home put all of the pictures in the photo album and left the frame for Gaara's lily on the counter. He had put everything in its place except for one thing. He smiled as he put up the other frame above mantle of their fireplace. Inside of the frame was the picture of them on the dock, smiling happily. Their first family photo was displayed right in their own living room now.

He smiled and went to bed himself, happy and exhausted from the day.


	4. First Day

"Kids hurry up! You don't want to be late for the academy on the first day do you?" Minato yelled to his kids.

Naruto and Gaara were standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom, brushing their teeth. They spit into the sink and washed off their brushes. They looked at each other and smiled.

Both of them had changed a lot in the past year that they had known each other, and changed for the better. The two adoptive siblings were extremely close, and they and their father were all very happy. They had both talked the night before, early in the morning. They did that sometimes, so they could talk alone, and just share secrets with each other.

They told each other that when they had first become a family, they were wary. They had both also revealed that they were not truly happy when they met each other, and both were actually in so much emotional pain. But now, they were happy, they loved each other, and their father, and would do anything for each other.

They had both also changed their appearances, to be more fitting for ninja.

Naruto wore black shorts that reached down to his knees and he had on a crimson red long sleeve shirt. He had grown out his hair, so that it looked a lot like his father's, making him look almost like a mini clone of him. He now stood at 4'5, tall for his age, was thin, yet muscular, and would turn eight in one month. He had gotten black shinobi sandals to match his pants, and after his father had approved, he had Gaara use her sand to make a kanji on his forehead for the word 'love', to match hers.

When he had asked, Minato had been surprised, and asked why he would want to do that. His son had answered. 'It's simple, I love Gaara-chan, so why wouldn't I share the same tattoo with her that symbolized that love?'.

Gaara had cried on Naruto, and told him she loved him too. It had been a very emotional night for them, and Minato had let his son and daughter have their own time alone so they could talk.

Gaara had also changed her appearance a lot. She had let her hair grow out, so that it now reached halfway down her back, and she always straightened it. She now wore a red battle kimono, but it was shortened, so it only went down a little past her hips. Underneath that, she wore black biker shorts, and black shinobi sandals. She had a black obi that tied her kimono in place, and it also held her long jar of sand in place. She stood at 4'3, again, tall for her age, was thin, and flexible, rather than muscular, and would turn eight in three months.

Minato had told them that they were beginning to be so similar it was scary. Other than the hair, the looked fairly the same, other than their gender differences. They had the same color scheme in clothing, they both wanted to be ninja, they both had bad pasts, but had overcome them and were now happy, they were both jinchurriki, they both had tattoos for 'love', and even more.

They gave each other a quick hug and looked at each other again.

"I'm nervous Naruto-kun. What if people don't like us? And what about my hair? I've never worn it like this before, but I'm trying to change it." Gaara said.

"Don't worry Gaara-chan! Everything will be fine! And your hair is really pretty!" He said, causing Gaara to blush madly.

"Okay Naruto-kun, I trust you." She said.

They then rushed out of the bathroom. They picked up their schoolbags and hugged their father goodbye. They ran down the streets, laughing as they made their way to class. Some people gave Naruto glares, but they didn't pay attention to that. I mean, what did it matter? They had each other and their father, and that was all they needed.

"I'm gonna beat you there Naruto-kun!" Gaara called, giggling.

"You maybe faster than me, but I've got an advantage!" Naruto called back, pouring some chakra in his legs.

The academy was appearing in their sight, and Naruto caught up to Gaara. He jumped on her and started tickling her. She fell to the ground and started laughing.

"Just admit it! I win!" Naruto cheered.

"Never!" Gaara said back playfully. She flipped him over so that she was on top of him, and held his hand to the ground. "Hah! I win!" She taunted, but then kissed him on the cheek and hopped up, running towards the academy.

Naruto lay on the ground, blushing. He held a hand up to his cheek, and his mouth was still wide open.

"Naruto-kun." He heard from farther away, and turned his head to see Gaara about 30 meters away. "Aren't you coming? I didn't tackle you that hard." She said.

"Yeah, I'm fcoming." He said, standing up and running back towards her. "Sorry, didn't mean to you worry you."

"It's fine, but let's get to the academy!" She said.

"Yatta!" Naruto cheered as they ran towards the academy again.

They ran into the classroom and noticed the class was about half full. Gaara turned to him and took his hand, and led him to a desk that had two open seats next to some guy with dark blue hair. She sat down in the middle seat and Naruto sat in the seat next to her.

The guy next to them groaned. "Please don't tell me you're one of those fan girls." He said, looking at Gaara.

She made a disgusted noise. "No way! They taint the name of true kunoichi! My dream is to be a established kunoichi of the Leaf Village, and to help Naruto-kun become Hokage! Not to fawn over some boy like a mindless idiot!"

"Yeah, Gaara-chan is awesome! She doesn't waste her time stalking people!" Naruto said.

"Well good, I don't need another fan girl." Sasuke said. "Sasuke Uchiha, by the way."

"Gaara Namikaze." Gaara said smiling.

"Naruto Namikaze, nice to meet ya!" Naruto said while grinning widely an kicking back in his seat. He leaned all the way back and put his feet on the desk, where Gaara promptly pushed them off the desk, making him lose balance and fall of the chair. Naruto stood back up.

"Gaara-chan! What was that for?!" He asked.

"Naruto-kun, you can do that at home, but not in public places. It's a sign of disrespect. I mean, would you like it if some guy we didn't know walked into our house and did that?" Gaara asked.

"Well... I guess not." Naruto said, sitting down the normal way.

"Sasuke-kuuun!" They heard two people call out, and looked across the room to see pink and blonde haired girls running towards them. They stopped at the desk and looked at Gaara.

"Hey! Just who do you think you are? I get to sit next to Sasuke-kun!" The blonde one said.

"No way Ino-pig! That seat is mine!" Sakura said.

Gaara stood up and glared at them harshly, looking down at them due to her height, so she was a couple inches taller than them. "You are tarnishing the name of kunoichi. Leave this classroom and don't come back, or, straighten up and take the life of a shinobi seriously!"

"What do you mean we aren't taking this seriously? We've been taking kunoichi classes for the past two years, and I haven't seen you there!" The pink-haired one said.

Gaara snorted. "How are things like flower picking and bouquet arraignment going to help me in the field? No, my father kept me home and trained me, as well as Naruto-kun, so we would become excellent ninjas."

"Who's your father?" The blonde one asked.

"Wait," Sasuke said, "didn't you say your last names were Namikaze?"

"Yep!" Naruto pipped up. "We're Naruto and Gaara Namikaze, kids of Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage of the Leaf Village! And don't you forget it! 'Cause one day, I'm gonna be Hokage too!"

"Huh! How could someone like you become Hokage when Sasuke-kun is in our grade!" The pink-haired one said, looking triumphant.

"Can Sasuke do this?" Naruto asked, as he fired up a Rasengan in one of his hands.

The kids stared in amazement at it until somehow, sand was cover the front of it, and blocking their view.

"Naruto-kun, tou-chan told us both not to use the Rasengan at school!" Gaara said.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Oops, I kind of forgot."

Gaara sighed and put down her arm, making her sand go back into it's container and she capped it off.

"How did you do that?" Sasuke asked to both of them.

"Sorry, can't tell ya, it's my dad's legacy! Only him, me, Gaara, and his sensei learned that technique, and our tou-chan made us swear we would only teach our children and so on." Naruto said.

"Well, I can't teach anybody mine, since only I can do it." Gaara said.

"Why? Is it some type of bloodline? And if it is, why doesn't Naruto have it?" Sasuke asked.

"Umm..." Gaara said. She and Naruto weren't exactly planning on telling people about their demons, since there wasn't a good chance people would still want to be friends, at least, that's how it was in the past. They both knew there was still a good chance that people wouldn't like them just because of what their parents said. But they knew they would have each other, and that's all they needed to be happy.

"Were not sure why, I guess it just manifested in only me." Gaara covered.

"Well that's weird." the blonde one said. "I'm Ino Yamanaka by the way, but can I please have the seat? I really want to sit next to Sasuke-kun, and I'm going to be a good kunoichi, I'm starting lessons today after school with my tou-chan! So don't say that you're the only one going to be a true kunoichi!"

Gaara looked around the room, and saw that there was another spot with two seats, and decided to save the trouble of some kind of fight.

"Sure, you can have the seat. Come on Naruto-kun, let's sit over there." Gaara said, standing up.

"Okay Gaara, looking to meet some new people?" Naruto said, standing up and grinning.

"Oh, just saving us some trouble is all. This whole thing with that stupid seat just seems to troublesome." Gaara said as she and Naruto sat next to some kid that was looking really tired and had his head on his desk.

"You can say that again." The kid said, lifting his head. "Shikamaru Nara, you guys?"

"Gaara Namikaze."

"Naruto Namikaze!"

"Hmm, who would have thought we would have a pair of twins in the same class." Shikamaru said.

"Oh, were not twins, we're adoptive brother and sister, though our tou-chan says we are scarily similar, and she looks a lot like my kaa-san. Or at least, from the pictures I've seen." Naruto said.

"Hm, I could have thought you two were siblings easily. Well, I'll give you some advice, don't sit next to the Uchiha. It's too troublesome with all of his fan girls." Shikamaru said.

"Alright class! Quiet down!" A man standing in the front said. He had his hair in a ponytail and had a scar across his nose. "I'm your teacher, Iruka Umino, please call me Iruka-sensei. This is my assistant, and you're other teacher, Mizuki-sensei. I hope that over the next 4 years, all of you try your hardest to become genin."

'Hmm, I got the kyuubi brat in my class. He doesn't deserve to be a genin, they shouldn't even be letting him try to become a ninja. He'll just kill everyone and go on a rampage one day.' Mizuki thought.

"Now, we are going to start with teaching you all to tap into your chakra. This will be hard, and might take awhile, so don't get upset if you can't do it at first. I will teach you the hand signs to your first jutsu, the clone jutsu. It's and E-rank jutsu that allows you to create copies of yourselves. Now only one of them is real, which is you, and the others are images. It can be handy, because you can make your opponents believe that there are more of you than there actually are." Iruka said. He then had them all come to the front and did the hand signs, then told them to try doing it.

Naruto and Gaara looked at each other and walked up to Iruka.

"Umm, Iruka-sensei, me and Naruto-kun can't do it." Gaara said.

"Just keep trying, you'll get it." Iruka said.

"No, Iruka-sensei, we really can't do it! It's impossible for us to do anything E-rank. We just have too much chakra, and the jutsu just falls out." Naruto said.

Iruka looked at the two, he supposed it was plausible for Naruto to have too much chakra, but this other kid? And a girl at that too! How could she have too much chakra?

"Why would you have too much chakra?" He asked Gaara.

"Uh, me and Naruto-kun share a similar... condition." Gaara said nervously.

Iruka's eyes widened as he heard that. There were more? Just how many of the beasts were there? And how many poor children had to carry them around? And this girl, did she grow up as Naruto did?

"Oh. So, you two are sure you can't do E-rank jutsu?" He asked.

"No we can't, but we can still do jutsu! Gaara-chan and I have already learned a few from our tou-chan!" Naruto said.

"Oh, well... let's see, does you father have you working on anything at the moment?" Iruka asked, scratching his cheek. The two nodded. "Well, why don't you two just practice that instead."

"Okay Iruka-sensei!" They both said, and went to work on their jutsu.

Both of them had found out their natural affinity, Naruto's being wind, and Gaara's being earth. So Minato had started teaching them both a jutsu, Naruto's jutsu, 'Wind Release: Divine Wind', created a tunnel of wind that had his chakra infused in it and if enough chakra went in, it could kill the victim. Gaara's jutsu, 'Earth Barrier: Earth Dome Prison.', creates a dome around the enemy, sucks out their chakra, and transfers it to her.

The rest of the day flew by, and before they knew it, it was lunch. Gaara and Naruto got lunch and looked around for an open seat. Finding two together, they walked over to the table and sat down with a blue-haired girl, a guy with short brown hair who had a dog on his head, a chubby boy with brown hair, and Shikamaru.

"Hey guys! I'm Naruto and this is Gaara, do you mind if we sit here?" Naruto asked.

"Naw, go ahead!" Kiba said happily.

'N-N-Naruto-kun is s-s-sitting a-at o-our t-t-table! I-I s-sh-should s-say s-s-something.' Hinata thought. She had been following around her childhood crush for years, ever since he had saved her from a beating by some guys. She hadn't seen him in a couple of months though. He never seemed to be in his apartment, and never went to the training grounds anymore. She was worried something had happened to him until he showed up in class. Though she had never seen that girl he was with.

"So good looking, your name is Gaara huh? Pretty name." Kiba said.

"Hey, back off." Naruto growled out.

"Naruto-kun, no need to be so protective." Gaara said. "Well, we already know Shikamaru, but what are your names?"

"I'm Kiba Inuzuka, and this is my partner, Akamaru." He said the brown-haired boy with the dog said, and his dog barked in agreement.

"My name's Choji, Choji Akimichi. Nice to meet you." The chubby boy said.

"I-I'm H-Hinata H-Hyuga." Hinata stuttered out.

"So, I have a question." Shikamaru said. "How come you guys went outside while the rest of us stayed inside while we were working on the jutsu?"

"Oh, we just needed to be outside for our jutsu, since they were different." Naruto said.

"Why did you two learn different jutsu? That's not fair!" Kiba protested.

"It's because we can't learn E-rank jutsu, we have too much chakra." Gaara said. "It's impossible for us, we can only learn high level jutsu."

"Yeah, if we tried and E-rank jutsu, we pour too much chakra in, and it cancels out the jutsu." Naruto said.

"Lucky!" Kiba said as he fell back onto his chair.

"I guess a bit, but we think it's more of a curse." Gaara said, her and Naruto looking down. They would much rather be normal, like them, rather then be a jinchurriki.

The group talked about this and that for the rest of lunch, well, except for Hinata, who didn't talk much at all. After lunch, they continued the day in school and learned theory and math rather than jutsu.

The school bell rang after what Naruto felt what was like forever. Him and Gaara raised from their seats and gathered their stuff, stuffing all of it into their bags.

Naruto grabbed Gaara's hand. "Come on Gaara-chan! Let's go!" He said as he and Gaara ran down the stairs and out of the classroom, both chattering happily about what they were going to do when they got home.

They got outside and mixed into a huge crowd of people who were picking up their children from the academy, quite a few of them gave Naruto glares, which Gaara always made sure she returned right back. They had no right to hurt her Naruto-kun! She didn't want him to feel sad ever again, because when he felt sad, she felt sad. And vice versa. They just hated it when other people would say or do hurtful things to the other.

"Hey kids!" Minato said, hugging his two kids and then releasing them and smiling. "How was your day?"

Gaara and Naruto went on to talk about all of the friends they were beginning to make, what they thought of the teachers, and the lessons from the afternoon, as well as the progress on their jutsu. Their father was leading them to Ichiraku without either of them noticing, he figured it would be nice to have a celebratory dinner there, especially since that was the first place they sat down and had a family meal together.

"Come on kids, we're going to Ichiraku's!" He said as he turned into the stand.

"Yay!" Naruto and Gaara cheered as the ran into the ramen stand and sat on the stools next to each other and their father, just as that first time.

_In Suna_

"Kazekage-sama, I'm afraid we still haven't found her." Another team reported back to him on his daughter's whereabouts.

He sighed and waved them out of his office. 'It's been half a year... perhaps it's time to call of the search.' He thought as he looked out his window over Suna. 'Good job civilians, you made me lose my ultimate weapon. What am I supposed to do now!?' He thought angrily.

He got up and stormed out of his office, telling his assistant he was done for the day. He went into the desert outside of Suna and yelled, slashing up the sand around him.

"One day..." He whispered. "One day those foolish villagers will realize what they have done, and they will all regret losing their weapon."


	5. Uchiha and Teams

**I just wanted to start off by saying I am SO sorry for no updates! A couple of you have sent me messages wondering if I was continuing the story, and I totally am! I was excited for this story and I'm definitely continuing it! I just went to a Christian Camp for two weeks, and we weren't allowed to bring things like laptops. Just phones and Ipods, and I couldn't update from that! So yeah, I just went to a Christian Camp. I might post the link to it and stuff for next year if any of you wanted to come. It's in Maine and right on the beach, so we all love it. Anyways, on with the story!**

"Did you hear about the Uchihas?"

"Good thing Sasuke-kun is okay!"

"Jeez, he must be having a rough time right now."

These were all things Gaara and Naruto heard as they walked into the classroom. It had been a few months since they had started the academy, and things were going pretty good.

Gaara had become a friend to Hinata, but surprisingly, she had become great friends with Ino. The two had been assigned to do a project together for school, and they had bonded over the experience. They hung out all the time, and even stayed over each others houses every once in awhile. Training together had also been something they liked to do, it was always nice to have a partner with you. 

Naruto had become great friends with Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji, the four growing very close. They had often hung out and played together after school, and they would all get their parents to agree on a night where all of them could have a giant sleepover. It had been easier for them to get close, since they had met on the first day and seemed to all have a great time around each other.

"Hey, what's up with the Uchiha?" Naruto asked as he and Gaara sat down next to Kiba.

"Ah, I heard it was something about his clan." Shikamaru said from the row above them, with Choji sitting next to him.

"Really? My tou-chan did hurry off to some meeting last night." Choji said.

"You guys really don't know?" Ino said, dragging a chair in front of Gaara, who was in the middle of the first row. " My tou-chan's on the council too, I asked him why he hurried off when he came home. He said that the whole Uchiha clan was massacred, other than Sasuke-kun. The worst part, apparently Sasuke-kun's brother was the one to do it."

"No way! How would he be able to take down his whole clan?" Kiba asked.

"The most important part is why would he do it?" Naruto asked.

"Who knows?" Ino said.

They all turned and looked at Sasuke, who just sat at his desk, sulking, and silent. Iruka called the attention of the class to himself as he started to teach. The lessons went on as usual, but Naruto couldn't help but steal glances at Sasuke throughout the lesson.

Once the bell rang for lunch, and they had all been released into the cafeteria, Naruto took Gaara's hand and led her past their usual lunch table.

"Naruto-kun? Where are we going?" She asked.

"Don't worry, just come." He said, leading her across the lunch room to the table Sasuke usually sat at alone. They sat down and Sasuke glared at them.

"Did I tell you that you could sit down?" Sasuke asked.

"No, but we did it anyway." Naruto said.

"Look, I don't want you two here!" Sasuke said.

"We know what it's like." Naruto said quietly.

Sasuke gained a surprised look on his face. "You know what is like?"

"We know what it's like to have no one." Naruto said.

"How? How could you possibly know what it's like?! You have Gaara! And your father! And all of your other friends! Tell me, how could you possibly know what it's like?!" Sasuke went off.

"It didn't use to be like that." Gaara whispered. "I used to live in the Sand village, and Naruto has lived here for his whole life. Our tou-chan didn't find us until last year. And we were both hated immensely by our villages."

"It's true. They used to yell at me, and tell their kids to stay away from me! And they would call me a monster, and despise me for nothing of my own fault!" Naruto said. "And the same thing happened for Gaara in her village! We know what it's like to be completely alone! At least the villagers and your classmates still care for you! We didn't have that when we were younger. Everyone hated us."

"That can't be true. Why would people hate you for no reason?" Sasuke said.

"We don't know!" Gaara said. They knew now of course, but they didn't at the time.

"Still... go away, I don't need anyone." Sasuke said.

Gaara sighed. "Come on Naruto-kun, let's just go." She said, standing and taking her lunch with her. She walked back to their normal table.

Naruto stayed for an extra moment, torn on whether to stay or not. He opened his mouth to say something, but just shut it again, stood up, grabbed his lunch and went to his normal table.

"Hn." Sasuke said, before digging into his lunch again.

Naruto sat down at his table and spared a last glance at Sasuke, before turning back to his table and taking a deep breath, starting on his own lunch.

Later that night, Naruto laid in his bed, his arms behind his neck, and he silently stared up at the ceiling. He thought about earlier that day. He wanted to help Sasuke, he honestly did. He knew what it felt like to be alone, and he didn't want anyone to feel that way. He closed his eyes and sighed, and drifted into a deep sleep.

***Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep***

"Naruto-kun! Wake the hell up!" Gaara yelled as she shook Naruto violently. She was starting to get worried, he never slept like this. He usually woke up before she did, but set his alarm as a precaution. Though he had never slept to it. Ever. "Naruto-kun!"

"Wha?" He yelled as he jumped up, knocking them both onto the floor in the process. He landed on top of her and their faces were centimeters apart. It didn't help at all that they had a lack of clothing on either, due to them just waking up.

"Oh god! Sorry Gaara-chan!" Naruto said, blushing as he got off her in the wink of an eye and helped her up.

"It's fine, I'm more concerned with you. What's wrong with you today? You overslept. By a lot. Are you okay?" Gaara asked, gaining a concerned look on her face and putting her hand on his cheek.

"Uh yeah, I'm fine. I don't know what got to me." Naruto said.

"Okay, well, get ready for today. It's team assignments remember? And don't forget to put on your hitaite!" Gaara said happily as she went off to her room.

"Right!" Naruto yelled, shutting his door so he could change.

Naruto had grown a lot in the past few years, now being 5' 4". He put on a long sleeved black shirt and forest green cargo pants, as well as black shinobi sandals, so that he could blend in with nature some more for when he went on missions. He wrapped bandages around his lower legs, and put them back in his bag. He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, racing down the stairs, making sure to grab his katana, which he had been training with for the past two years, on the way out.

He rushed down the stairs and slid into his seat at the table, scarfing down a bowl of cereal that was already set out for him by his dad. He looked up and saw Gaara, almost choking on his cereal at the process.

Gaara had developed rather... well... in the past few years, gaining boobs rather large for her age... NOT THAT HE EVER LOOKED! (Yeah right, hehe) She was 5' 2" and had lost most of her baby fat, and looked a lot more like a woman, even having an hourglass shape. But she had changed her outfit several times, and told him that she was changing it again for when she became a genin.

She now had on a black tank top that had a V cut down to her breasts, and it reached down to her waist, and was tight fitted to help with speed. She also had weapon holders on her upper arms, right near her shoulders, that held her trench knives. She wore short Khaki shorts, and had bandages running up one leg and black shinobi sandals. She had grown out her hair so that it reached her waist, and had her long bangs clipped back with a clip that their mom used to clip back her bangs.

'Damn! Gaara looks hot! Wait, WHHAATT?! I didn't just think that! It was just... uh.. the wind! Yeah! That's right! It was just the wind! Or maybe some kind of hallucination!' Naruto thought. 'After all, I can't think of her like that! She's my nee-chan!'

"Hey Naruto-kun." Gaara said as she sat down, blushing slightly as she saw his new outfit, which showed off his muscles. Gaara wasn't stupid, she had figured out her feelings for her brother a while after she had felt that way, but she kept them under control and hidden, knowing he probably would be disgusted with her feeling that way. But he was the person she could trust most, and knew she could always count on him, and that he would love her always. How could she not fall for him?

She sighed mentally and started eating, and finished rather quickly, she didn't want to be late after all. She tied her deep red hitaite around her right upper arm, just above her trench knife. She attached her weapons pouch to her waist while Naruto did the same.

"Bye Tou-chan!" They both called to Minato, who was upstairs showering.

They ran out the front door and hopped across the roofs to the academy, Naruto tying his black hitaite on his forehead in the process.

Naruto looked out of the corners of his eyes at Gaara, who saw and smirked.

"Wanna race?" She challenged.

"Bring it!" Naruto challenged back.

The two raced to the academy, trying to get there first by any means necessary. Naruto raced into the room and saw their usual seats empty. He smirked and ran up the stairs, only for a poof of smoke appear in his seat, leaving Gaara sitting there, sticking out her tongue and pulling her eyelid down in a teasing manner. She laughed and said,

"We didn't specify any rules Naruto-kun! Better luck next time!" She said, laughing.

"Dang it!" He said, sitting down.

"Alright class, settle down! Settle down!" Iruka called out. "Now, as you all know, you will be separated into teams today, but due to the odd number of people, one team will have 4 people. Now, the teams list as follows..."

Naruto and Gaara sat there as Iruka called out names, waiting for their own names to be called.

"Alright, now this team is going to be the one with four genin in it, and resulting, you will be having 2 senseis, to help with the work. Now, the students on this team will be Naruto Namikaze, Gaara Namikaze-"

Naruto smiled and put his arm around Gaara's shoulder and pulled her close, a half hug.

"Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno."

"YES!" Sakura cheered. Not only did she get on a team with Sasuke, but the Hokage's son as well! Both the two hottest guys in the grade.

Sasuke and Naruto groaned at the thought of having her on their team. Gaara sighed. She hated the girl since she was a fan girl, and Sakura hated her because she claimed she always got in the way of her relationship with her beloved 'Naruto-kun'. Even though Naruto had told her that he doesn't like Sakura at all, and that she just annoyed him with her constant screaming.

"And your senseis will be Kakashi Hatake and Minato Namikaze." Iruka said.

Gaara and Naruto dropped their heads on the desk. Great, their overprotective dad was on their team, as well as Kakashi, who they had met before, and had some rather bad tendencies.

Iruka called out the rest of the teams, and told them their senseis would come to pick them up. Accordingly, he left the room, and the senseis came in, minus one.

Minato stood their smiling as he looked at his team, he had high hopes for them. He was the last one to call out his team, but they knew anyways, so they just came down and sat in front of him.

"Alright kids, let's go to the roof to introduce ourselves!" Minato said happily.

"Shouldn't we wait for Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

Minato, Naruto, and Gaara all laughed.

"Wait? For Kakashi? Well, if you want to sit here for the next three hours, go ahead!" Minato said. "I'll be up on the roof!" He then poofed away in a plume of smoke.

Naruto and Gaara stood up and looked at their teammates expectantly. Neither moved, though Sakura looked torn.

"Well, aren't you coming? He wasn't kidding you know." Naruto said.

"Ummm... I guess I'll go." Sakura said reluctantly, standing up. "Sasuke-kun, are you coming?"

"Hn." He said, standing and leaving the room to go to the roof.

The rest followed after him, it wasn't a very clear answer but, at last they knew what his decision was.

They reached the roof in five minutes, but saw their other sensei standing there as well, their first one having a tight grip on their other sensei's shirt.

"Hey! I thought you said it s gonna be awhile!" Sakura complained.

"Well, I fixed that, now didn't I? I just flashed over to him, grabbed him by the back of the shirt, and flashed back here with him. I wanted you all to meet both your senseis, since that's the correct way to do it, ne?" Minato said.

"I guess." Sakura said reluctantly.

"Now, why don't we all introduce ourselves. Let's say our names, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams. I'll go first." Minato said. "My name is Minato Namikaze, but you can call me Minato-sensei. I like spending time with my family, training, and reading. I dislike ignorant people who can't tell the difference between prisoner and the jailor. My hobbies are training myself, training my kids, reading, and cooking. My dreams... well, I guess I already achieved them. Now, how about you go next Kakashi?"

"Fine." Kakashi said. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. As for likes I have many, and dislikes, I have few. I don't really feel like telling you my hobbies, and my dreams are none of your business."

They all sweat-dropped, wow, real long explanation there. Jeez, all they learned was his name!

"Don't mind him." Minato said, smiling. "Anyways, let's start with you (pointing at Sasuke) and go to the left."

"Sasuke Uchiha. I have almost no likes, and many dislikes. My hobbies? Training. And my dream is, well no, not a dream, because it will happen. I will kill a certain man and then continue my clan." Sasuke said.

"OOOkkkaaayy. Next." Minato said reluctantly.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. My hobbies include doing my hair and cooking! I like or rather, who I like (looks at Sasuke and Naruto and giggles) and my dreams (looks at Sasuke and Naruto and giggles again)."

"And dislikes?" Kakashi asked.

"Ino-pig and Gaara!" She yelled, gaining an angry face.

Minato's head faltered. 'Great, so we have a fan girl, that likes the two male teammates and hates the other girl. Just what I needed! And especially since Naruto and Gaara are on the team!'

"Alright, guess I'll go." Naruto said. "Name's Naruto Namikaze! I like training, ramen, Gaara-chan, tou-chan, and my friends! I dislike annoying fan girls and waiting the 3 minutes for ramen to cook! My hobbies are collecting different ramen flavors, hanging out with my friends, and training! My dream is to become the Hokage and to have my own family one day!"

"So, I guess it's me now." Gaara said. "Hi, my name is Gaara Namikaze. I like training, Naruto-kun, tou-chan, my friends, learning new jutsu, and sand. I also dislike annoying fan girls and the Kazekage. My hobbies include training, spending time with my friends, shopping with Ino, and talking with my family. My dream is to become an established kunoichi and to help Naruto become Hokage."

"Alright, now that the introductions are over, I need to tell you guys something. You aren't genin yet. You still need to take a survival test, with me and Minato-sensei. The test will be tomorrow at 8 a.m. Training ground 7. Oh, and you might not want to eat breakfast, or you'll puke." Kakashi said, then he shunshined away.

"See you kids tomorrow! Well, Naruto, Gaara, how about we go for ramen? Ichiraku's sound good?" Minato asked, getting up and dusting off his clothes.

"Yeah!" They cheered.

The three ran off to Ichiraku's to eat lunch, but Gaara and Naruto couldn't help but be worried for the next day's test.


	6. The Bells

**Sorry for all the delays! We had a huge family thing to go to over Labor Day weekend, and I couldn't write! Plus starting school again has been crazy for me, too many things to do! Hopefully I'll get back on track soon, but as things get more crazy for me, things might slow down. I'm starting to tutor a kid two times a week, and well, I want a social life too! But I promise I WILL make time for Fanfiction! Do not worry! **

**Just in case you don't know, I also started a new story, going by the name of 'A Few Minutes.' It should be out later today, so try to find it! :)**

**Well, now for the good part! Longest chapter yet! **

**PEACE!**

**~narutoobsessedgurl**

Naruto and Gaara woke up early the next day, and packed a lunch for themselves. After all, Kakashi had said to specifically not eat breakfast, he said nothing about not needing a lunch, and if worse came to worse, they could just eat it when they got home.

They set off to the training grounds after finishing getting ready, and found that Sakura and Sasuke were already there, Sakura already annoying the hell of of Sasuke. They waited there and Minato showed up roughly ten minutes later, dragging Kakashi along with him.

"You're late!" Sakura screamed.

"You think that none of us know that Sakura? You didn't need to scream it." Gaara said, crossing her arms.

"Well, I'm aware that we're late, and you can thank your other lazy sensei for it." Minato said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, letting go of Kakashi.

"Sorry kids, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah right, just admit that you're lazy!" Naruto said, crossing his arms.

"Well, you're just wasting your own time now." Kakashi said. "Now, the test you will be taking today is hard, and has a 66% failing rate. Your mission is to get one of these bells from me or Minato-sensei. You have until noon to get one of the bells, if you don't have one, you'll be tied to a post and left without a lunch, and then be sent back to the academy. Understand?" Kakashi asked, holding up three bells.

"But, Kakashi-sensei, there are only three bells." Sakura pointed out.

"Of course. You don't really think that we could have a team of four do you? And besides, there's a strong likelihood that all of you won't get a single bell by yourselves." Kakashi said, dropping them a hint. "Now, Minato will have one of the bells while I will have the other two. You may start... now!"

The four kids jumped into hiding spots around the training area. Kakashi and Minato smiled and looked at each other, happy with the kids hiding.

"So, how do you think this will play out?" Kakashi asked Minato.

"Oh, I don't know. But I have no doubt that Naruto and Gaara will work together, Sasuke will be too arrogant to work with anyone if they even tried, and Sakura will try to find Sasuke, but will not be able to convince him to join her." Minato said.

"We'll see I guess." Kakashi said.

**With Naruto**

'Alright, so I guess I just have to go find Gaara-chan.' he thought, dropping down from the tree he was hiding in and roaming the forest floor. He walked through the trees, listening to see if he could hear the familiar breathing pattern from Gaara, or sense her anywhere.

He sighed as he leaned against a tree nearly 10 minutes later, stretching his senses to see if she had gone somewhere far enough away he couldn't sense without complete concentration. He started searching, but suddenly heard a yell, breaking his concentration. It was far off to his right. He couldn't make it out, so he just ran towards it, hoping he would be able to help.

**With Gaara**

"Naruto?" Gaara asked the air, going through a patch of bushes to get into the clearing she'd spotted. She'd stepped into is and looked around, but couldn't see any trace of her beloved blonde-haired brother. She shrugged and turned around, expecting to just go back towards the field and find him around there.

When she turned, she saw Naruto, one hand against the tree, holding him up. His clothes were torn and he had cuts and blood all over him, as well as bruises. He panted heavily and looked at Gaara.

"Gaara-chan..." he whispered, blood coming out of his mouth, just before he collapsed on the ground.

"Naruto!" She yelled, rushing forward to help him, not really knowing what she was going to do. She couldn't heal him, she didn't know any medical jutsu. She could carry him for awhile, and if she had to, all the way back to the clearing to find their dad.

As she went to put him in her lap though, her hands passed straight through him.

'An illusion?' She wondered, standing back up in case of attack.

"Gaara-chan!" Naruto called, running out of the forest and into the clearing. "Gaara-chan! Why did you scream!? Are you alright?!" He hurried out.

"How do I know you're not just an illusion too? Trying to trick me!" Gaara asked calmly, uncapping her sand as a precaution.

"What do you mean? Gaara-chan, I'm not an illusion! I'm the real me! I was looking for you when I heard a yell, yours apparently, so I ran towards where it came from to help." He said.

"To see if you are the real Naruto-kun or not, I have a question that only the real Naruto would know." She said, looking at him expectantly.

"Okay, what's the question?" Naruto asked, waiting.

"What ha-" Gaara started, but was cut off short as another Naruto ran out of the forest.

"Gaara-chan! Are you okay?!" The new Naruto asked.

'Two Narutos? Oh god! My head hurts already!' Gaara thought, rubbing her temples as the two Narutos stared at each other.

"Hey! Who the hell do you think you are!? I'm the real Naruto!" One of them yelled.

"No way! I'm the real Naruto! You're just tou-chan or sensei disguised as me!" The other one yelled.

They just started a shouting match at each other before it quickly turned into a battle of the fists, each fighting each other and rolling over, trying to gain the advantage. They hit each other multiple times, but neither dispersed in a cloud of smoke, showing they were both real people, and that one was just wearing a henge.

She sighed and took in a deep breath. "WILL BOTH OF YOU JUST STOP!" She shouted at them. Both boys immediately stopped fighting and looked at her, then they separated from each other and rubbed the dirt off of them.

"Now, I think I know how to solve this." Gaara said.

"No need Gaara-chan, I got it." One of the Narutos said, stepping forward towards her and standing in front of her, his face red with a blush.

"Naruto-kun, well, maybe anyways, are you okay?" She asked.

"No, well, yes, umm... I don't know! Well, here, this will show you it's not sensei, and definitely not tou-chan who is right here. But that it's me, Naruto." He said.

Gaara started, "What are you talking abou-"

She was cut off as Naruto's lips pressed against hers, her mind going completely blank and her eyes widening. She couldn't respond, believing it must just be an illusion. But then she realized; you can't feel illusions.

He pulled away just as quickly as he had done it, but Gaara felt like it had gone on for an eternity. Her mind decided to remind her that she hadn't kissed him back, but didn't focus on that since the other Naruto poofed into Kakashi, who was laughing so hard he was on his back. Naruto was blushing, and he stood roughly ten feet away from her, with his face looking away from her.

Gaara stood there with a half open mouth and astonished face. What had just happened again? Oh right, her adoptive brother, who she had a crush on, had just kissed her in front of their sensei to prove he was really her brother and not their sensei.

She never thought of that happening as she was preparing herself for the exam.

Kakashi was rolling around all over the place since he was laughing so hard.

"The first time you kiss a girl, and you choose your sister! Oh My God! And her face! If only you could have seen that!" He hollered.

Naruto, getting annoyed, kicked him in the balls, which promptly stopped the laughing. He acted fast and grabbed the bells from Kakashi's belt, and ran towards Gaara.

"Gaara-chan! Come on, we need to go before he recovers, or he'll beat the living hell out of me!" Naruto yelled.

Gaara stood there, dumbstruck, still staring where Naruto previously was. Naruto growled and picked her up, carrying her in a way that wouldn't hurt, and jumped away, hoping that he could get to his father before Kakashi was able to chase him down. If there was one thing that any man hated, it was getting kicked in the nuts, and Naruto had just committed that deed on one of the highest ranking ninja in the village.

He ran into the clearing and put Gaara down on the ground, flopping onto his back in the process. He cupped his hands against his mouth and yelled.

"TOOUUU-CHHAAANN!"

Suddenly, a yellow flash appeared nest to them and started checking over the both of them frantically.

"What's going on?! Are either of you hurt!? What happened!? Oh I'll kill Kakashi! I swear if he did anything to seriously injure either of you, I will skin him and hang him over our mantle! And then I'll-"

"Tou-chan! Calm down! We just need your protection from Kakashi-sensei! We got the bells." He said, holding up the bells. "But I did something he's going to kill me for."

"What? Kakashi's not an easy guy to piss off. What did you do? Burn his Icha-Icha?" Minato asked, gaining a puzzled look.

"Worse, I kicked him in the nuts." Naruto said.

Minato flinched. "Jeez son, did you have to go that harsh on him? I mean, it's kind of an unspoken rule that ninja don't go that far."

"Well, he was really pissing me off! I mean, come on! Laughing at me like that!" Naruto said, crossing his arms.

"Wait, why would he be laughing at you?" Minato asked, raising an eyebrow.

Naruto froze. "Oh you know... Just being an ass is all."

"Naruto, don't use such language, it's going to become a bad habit." Minato said.

"Sorry Tou-chan, but he just made me angry." Naruto said, kicking up some dirt.

"Naruto, what's with Gaara?" Minato asked, pointing at his daughter, who was just staring at the ground.

"Ohhh... that... umm... yeah, about that-"

"Naruto, can I talk to you about something?" Gaara said, finally looking up from the ground and looking at Naruto, her eyes hard.

"Oh, yeah, sure." He said.

"Good. Let's talk over there." Gaara said, pointing to the woods, and starting to walk over there.

Naruto tensed and followed, nervousness taking over his senses. He walked that way, with Gaara roughly 10 paces ahead of him. Behind them, Minato just watched them leave, an eyebrow raised. He shrugged and went out to find the other two kids, a bit disappointed that they all work together. He couldn't help but wonder though.

'What is going on with my kids?' He thought as he jumped through the trees on the opposite side of the clearing.

Naruto approached Gaara, who was already standing at the edge of the clearing, arms crossed and tapping her foot, looking at him, expressionless.

"H-Hey Gaara-chan." Naruto said, putting an innocent smile on his face.

"Naruto... what- no why- or GAAHH! I don't know! Why did you do that? Back with Kakashi-sensei. Why did you decide to distinguish yourself in THAT way? Why not just tell me something only one of us would know?" Gaara asked.

"I don't know! It was just something I knew neither of them would do, so it could only be me. It was just a spur of the moment thing, and I didn't think it through. I'm sorry Gaara-chan, please don't hate me!" Naruto said.

"Naruto-kun, I don't hate you." Gaara said, stepping forward and putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I just need to know something. Do you have feelings for me?"

"Whaa!? Why would you ask that ttebayo!?" Naruto yelled.

"You idiot. People don't just kiss other people for no reason. Now tell me, do you like like me or not?" Gaara asked.

"Well... maybe I have... some sort of... you know.. crush type of feeling for you..." Naruto mumbled out, looking to the ground and gaining a shade of red that would make Hinata proud.

Gaara blushed as well, gaining a light pink tint to her cheeks. "Well, maybe I... ya know... have the sane type of feelings for you." She stuttered out.

Naruto's head snapped up and he looked her in the eye, his own eyes widening in shock. "Really? Don't mess with me Gaara! It's not funny."

"I'm not messing with you idiot! Why would I think it would be funny anyways?" Gaara said, her blush deepening to a crimson color.

"So... what do we do now?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not sure... it's weird, because we're siblings... yet not siblings." Gaara said.

"Do you want to... ya know, go out?" Naruto somehow managed out.

"Ummm... I guess we could give it a try... But if it doesn't work out or seems weird, we WILL go back to how we were before today. Got it?" Gaara said.

"Totally! I couldn't agree more!" Naruto said, scratching his head. But he gained a blush again, before he quickly pecked Gaara on the cheek.

Gaara blushed just as deeply and then they both walked back out into the clearing. They walked, holding hands and talking, quickly transitioning to their normal types of conversation. When they reached the middle of the clearing, they heard a voice.

"Idiot! Don't you dare step on me!" They heard.

Both of them looked around but didn't see anyone. Naruto shrugged and took another step forward, stepping on something that made a large "Ow!". He and Gaara looked down to see a head sticking out of the ground. Sasuke's head!

"Dobe! I swear, the second I get out of this god forbidden hole, I'm going to kill you!" He yelled.

"Jeez, it seems the Uchiha can show some emotion." Naruto said, getting a giggle out of Gaara.

"Hn." Sasuke said, looking away from them.

"Kind of hard to be intimidating when you're just a head, isn't it? Besides, how could you fall for that?" Naruto said.

"Naruto-kun, I hate to mention it, but seriously? You fell for that more than once, that's why you don't like fighting with Tou-chan." Gaara said.

"Hey! That's not true!" Naruto said.

"Guys!" They heard yelled, and they turned to see a shock of pink hair coming from the trees. Sakura ran towards them, stumbling along the way, twigs and dirt in her hair.

"Oh thank god! Minato-sensei is a maniac!" She proclaimed as she raked her fingers through her hair to get the stuff out of it. She then looked at Naruto and Gaara, who were holding hands, fingers intertwined like a couple's, then noticed Sasuke's head was the only part of his body visible.

Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs and fainted, falling back onto the ground. The other just looked at each other and looked back at Sakura.

At that moment, Kakashi and Minato appeared in front of them, columns of smoke appearing before them. They both looked at the group of kids.

Minato narrowed his eyes at Gaara and Naruto holding hands, and then looked at Sakura and rolled his eyes. Kakashi just laughed when he saw Naruto and Gaara, making them glare at him, then looked at Sasuke and eye smiled.

"Ahh, still haven't gotten out of there yet huh?" He said.

"Shut up!" Sasuke growled.

"Well, since Sakura not only didn't get a bell, but is also unconscious, and Sasuke is unable to get out of his 'situation' and doesn't have a bell, they both fail." Minato said. "Gaara and Naruto, you two pass. Congratulations."

They woke Sakura up and got Sasuke out of the ground, and tied them both to a post. While Naruto and Gaara sat in between the two posts they were tied to, choosing to sit next to each other and their senseis stood in front of them.

"Now, Minato and I are very disappointed in you Sakura and Sasuke. You two will have one more chance to pass. After lunch, you will have another 2 hours to try to get the bells. Gaara and Naruto, you two will get to eat these lunches Minato prepared for you. Do not feed any to Sasuke or Sakura, they did not get the bells, so they do not get lunch. See you guys in a few!" Kakashi said, handing Naruto and Gaara lunches, then poofing away with Minato.

Naruto and Gaara looked at each other and blinked, hearing Sasuke and Sakura's stomachs growl. They smiled and each undid their bentos, and kneeled before their teammates.

"Sakura. Open your mouth." Gaara said.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because, if you want to pass, you need energy, and energy comes from food." Gaara said.

"But what about you?" She asked.

"I already passed, and don't worry, I brought my own lunch anyways. Come on, just eat." Gaara said, holding up a chopstick full of food.

"But Kakashi-sensei said-"

"I don't care what Kakashi-sensei said, what he doesn't know won't hurt him." Gaara said.

Sakura nodded and graciously accepted the food from Gaara, feeling a bit bad that she didn't like the girl just because she was close to her crush. The girl was nice enough to go against the rules just to help her out. She started to feel better about her teammate than before.

Meanwhile, Naruto was trying to get Sasuke to eat the food.

"Teme! Just eat!" Naruto yelled at the boy.

"Hell no! I'm not eating your pity food!" Sasuke yelled back.

"Eat the damn food!" Naruto yelled.

"I don't need your stupid food!" Sasuke yelled.

"Just swallow your pride and eat the food you idiot!" Naruto yelled.

"No way in hell!" Sasuke yelled.

"Teme! You're gonna eat the food and you're gonna like it!" Naruto yelled before forcing the food into Sasuke's mouth.

Once Gaara was done feeding Sakura and Sakura had told Gaara that she was sorry for her stupid prejudice against her, and asking her to forgive her, and asking if they could start fresh, to which Gaara said yes. And Naruto had finished force feeding Sasuke the whole lunch, making the poor boy almost throw up twice due to his gag reflex, Naruto and Gaara ate their own lunches.

After they were done, Kakashi and Minato appeared.

"You two!" Minato yelled, pointing at his own children. "We told you two not to give any food to your teammates, yet you did. You disobeyed orders that we had specifically given you."

"Tou-chan!" Naruto yelled back, standing up. "It's a stupid rule! We don't want our teammates to get hurt for no reason! Why should we let them do less than their best when we could give that to them?"

"Settle down! Settle down!" Kakashi said. "Now, since you directly disobeyed orders in favor of your teammates. You four all... PASS!"

"WHAAATTT!?" They all yelled.

"You four all pass." Minato said, smiling.

"But, why?" Sakura asked.

"Because, one man once taught me and Minato something we will never forget. 'Those who break the rules are trash. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.' This test was about teamwork, and you were the first team since my team to actually pass." Kakashi said.

"So, all of you go on home and get ready for tomorrow, because tomorrow, we will have our first ever mission as Team 7. Be prepared!" Minato said.

The genin cheered and all started talking animatedly. Minato and Kakashi started talking to each other.

"So, how do you think they'll do tomorrow?" Minato asked.

"Who knows? I just hope they get to know the fun of catching Tora." Kakashi said, causing Minato to laugh.

"We'll see." Minato said looking at his new team, and he couldn't help but wonder. 'Will this team 7 turn out like the rest? Gaining the Team 7 curse?' He shook his head, no need to have bad thoughts. Kakashi and he would do their best to make sure none of that happened. He had high hopes for this team, and he just wanted them to succeed. 'Please let this team be different.' He thought.

Please.


	7. Our First C-rank, Or Is It?

"Ow! Ow! Ow! OWWW! Get this demon cat away from me!" Naruto yelled, throwing the stupid cat into Sakura's arms, where it seemed to instantly calm down. "What the hell? Why did it only scratch me and Sasuke? This isn't fair!"

"Aww, is the cute little genin complaining about some scratches? Well guess what kid, you're gonna get a lot worse." Kakashi said.

"Shut up, I know! But why do we have to do stupid chores for people? Being a ninja doesn't mean you take your time to garden!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Every ninja has to do D-ranks at some point Naruto. I did it. Your father did it. Even the Hokages do it at some point." Kakashi said.

"Come on, let's just go get this cat back to it's owner so that we can get this mission over with!" Sakura complained.

"Sakura is right, let's go back to the tower and get another mission. Come on, let's go now." Minato said, ushering the children along.

"Oh my precious baby!" The Fire Daimyo's wife cooed, smothering the cat into her boobs, nearly suffocating the cat. "Oh, mama missed you! Yes she did! Yes she did!" As she did this, various thoughts went through he groups heads.

'Hah! Demon cat! You got what you deserved! I hope you die like that!' Naruto thought.

'That poor cat...' Sakura thought.

'Note to self; tell Naruto-kun that if I ever get like that, he'll smack me into my senses...' Gaara thought.

'Hn. When are we getting onto training?' Sasuke thought.

'Damn... how is that cat still alive? I remember having to catch when **I **was a genin...' Minato thought.

'Hmmm, I wonder if she'll care if I start reading Icha-Icha...' Kakashi thought.

'Why doesn't she ever do that to me?' Thought the Fire Daimyo in a sad mood.

"Now, here is your payment Sarutobi. Thank you kids for finding my precious Tora for me!" She said to the group after handing some money to Sarutobi.

"No problem." Minato said, smiling. "Whenever you need help again don't be afraid to ask."

"Of course not Minato! Let's go honey!" She said, dragging her husband out with her.

Sarutobi turned back to Team 7. "Good job, mission completed. Now, next you can walk a group of dogs, pull weeds at a local garden, h-"

"Dammit old man! Give us a real mission! I don't want to do anymore of these chores!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto!" His father said in a cutting tone of voice. "Do not speak that way to the Hokage. And I already told you to stop the foul language!"

"But Tou-chan, it's not fair! Why can't we do real missions! I don't want to babysit or pull weeds! I want to go out a kick some butt!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Kakashi, Minato, do you think your team is ready for a C-rank mission?" Sarutobi suddenly asked, making Naruto's eyes glimmer with hope.

"Lord Hokage, you can't be serious!" Iruka said. "I know they're abilities, they were my students, their team isn't ready for this yet!"

"Excuse me." Minato said sternly. "So, you think that a team lead by a former Hokage and one of the best Jounin isn't ready for a C-rank mission, that I alone could do in my sleep? Never mind the fact that there are 3 children known as prodigies on the team, and you are telling me the team isn't ready?"

"Minato is right. We know they can handle this, even without us. You have no need to worry, we can handle the mission just fine." Kakashi said.

"You don't understand, I know them! I had them for 4 years, they were my students!" Iruka said.

Kakashi used a razor sharp voice that cut into Iruka sternly. "Exactly, their not **your **students anymore. They're mine and Minato's students now. You don't know how much they have learned in the past few months, but we do. And we say, as their senseis, that we **know **they are ready for this."

Iruka sat back down, his eyes wide. He didn't know what to say to that, because it wa true... they weren't his students anymore... former students, yes, but they weren't **his **anymore...

"Now." Sarutobi said. "Since you two feel they are ready, you shall be the first team of your year to get a C-rank. You will be escorting a bridge builder back to Wave country, and you will guard him as he and his coworkers finish building the bridge. Bring him in!"

A man walked in, drunk as a skunk, still holding a bottle of wine. His straw hat was tipped to the side and he was dressed in civilian clothes.

"This is my protection? All I see are two scrawny, weak girls, an idiot looking boy, and another idiot looking boy, with a scarecrow and a sun. No way are they gonna protect me!" He said.

"I'll kill him! I swear I'll kill him!" Naruto exclaimed, clawing at the man while being held back by Kakashi.

"I assure you, we are very capable of taking care of you. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. And, er, he's just playing around." Minato said, pointing at his son who was still shouting death threats.

"We'll meet tomorrow at the West gate, be there at 8:00 a.m." Kakashi said. "Alright, everyone go pack for roughly two weeks, only the necessaries."

"Hai sensei!" They all said, and all left in their own way. Sasuke and Sakura walking away, and Minato flashing his kids back home. 

**West Gate: The next day, 9:00 a.m.**

"Where are those two? They were supposed to be here 5 minutes ago." Gaara said, getting up from her seat on the ground against a tree.

"They're probably just running late. Kakashi doesn't show up late for missions, just for training. Besides, he might be leading our client, since he doesn't seem to be here yet either." Minato said.

Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, Kakashi showed up with Tanzuna in tow.

"Stupid Village. Why would you have 4 different gates?" He muttered.

"Well, now that we're all here, we can get going." Minato said, and the group set off.

Gaara and Naruto were in the front, Sakura hanging onto Sasuke a few feet behind them, and at the back of the group was Kakashi, Minato, and Tazuna.

"What do you think it'll be like?" Naruto asked Gaara.

"If it's anything like Suna was, hot." She said.

"Just how I like my women." Naruto said, winking at her.

Gaara laughed. "Wow, nice."

"But it's called the land of waves, so there has to be an ocean there right? We should go swimming!" Naruto cheered.

"Naruto-kun, we can swim at home though." Gaara said.

"But not in the ocean!" Naruto raved, making Gaara giggle.

"Sasuke-kun, let's go on a date!" Sakura said.

"No." 

"Pleeeeaaasssee! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said.

"No."

"Ne, Minato, you see think we should tell the kids?" Kakashi whispered to Minato as they passed by the puddle.

"No, let's see how they do without their senseis." Minato whispered back.

They walked a few more steps before two men emerged from the puddle and sent a chain through Minato and Kakashi. The kids turned in time to see there senseis be sliced into pieces.

"Sensei!" Sakura yelled.

"Tou-chan!" Naruto and Gaara yelled.

"Now, only 4 little brats to kill." One of the men said.

"Sakura! Protect Tazuna!" Gaara yelled as she and Naruto ran forward towards the men.

Gaara ripped the cap off her bottle of sand, which quickly poured out and onto the ground. Naruto couldn't control the rage boiling inside of him, and he quickly started developing a red cloak, his eyes changing from sky blue to red. While Gaara would have liked to calm him down, they had an enemy in front of them, and she was dangerously close to losing control herself.

Naruto growled. "I'll kill you!"

They both bolted forward, Naruto taking the man on the left and Gaara the one on the right. Gaara surrounded her enemy with sand, and lifted him in the air. She saw him struggling, trying to cut through the sand.

Too bad it wasn't that easy.

She crushed the man with her sand, hearing him scream in pain for a split second before he died. Her sand dropped to the ground and she dragged it through the fine grains of dirt to clean it off the blood. She brought it back to herself and put it in the bottle, capping it off.

Meanwhile, Naruto was dealing with his own opponent. The man whipped his chain out towards Naruto, but Naruto just cut through it with straight chakra. He grabbed the man and using his elongated nails, scratched his face, drawing blood and making the man go blind.

As the man's brutal screams ripped through the air, Naruto pulled back his fist and slammed it into the man's head. The man flew back from the power packed punch, and went through a tree, crashing into a boulder behind the tree with a sickening crack.

Naruto growled loudly, throwing his head toward the sky, and Gaara ran up to his form. She felt the red chakra burning her, even though she wasn't touching it, but she didn't care, she needed him to stop. Shukaku would deal with the effects later, so she knew she would be okay. Gaining all her willpower, she tackled Naruto to the ground, feeling the chakra searing her, she grunted in pain. Naruto writhed underneath her, snarling, but managed to pull her hand back and slap him across the face. He stopped for a moment, but then resumed. She slapped him over and over again, her hand going red, as she yelled.

"Naruto-kun, you have to stop! Stop it! I know how you feel! He was my Tou-chan too, but you have to stop! This isn't how you are, you can't lose control! Stop! STOP!" She yelled, starting to cry as she went on. Tears dripped down her face and she kept slapping him, even though he showed no resistance.

She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Naruto-kun, take control!" She yelled, and she saw the red cloak of chakra start to recede, leaving just Naruto. She hugged him and sobbed into his shoulder, and he just lay there, a dazed look on his face.

"S-Sensei?" Sakura stuttered.

Kakashi and Minato walked towards them with embarrassed looks on their faces. The rest of the group stared at them incredibly, well, except for Tazuna, who was still staring at Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei and Minato-sensei, how are you alive?" Sakura asked.

Minato rubbed the back of his head. "Replacements aren't just for the academy." He said, pointing towards the pile of shredded wood where they had been standing.

"YOU MEAN YOU JUST STOOD AROUND INSTEAD OF HELPING US?!" Sakura yelled.

"YOU MEAN YOU JUST LET US THINK YOU DIED!?" Gaara yelled furiously.

"We wanted to see how far you had come. If it had gotten out of hand, we would have stepped in." Kakashi said.

"YOU DON'T THINK **THAT** WAS OUT OF HAND?!" Naruto yelled.

"Well, yeah, but right now, the problem is him." Minato said, pointing at Tazuna and narrowing his eyes at the man. "You. You said this was a C-rank, but those were Chunin. This is at least a B-rank, which you didn't pay for. While our team is ready for a C-rank, it isn't for a B-rank. You lied about the mission, which could have killed these kids. Now, you can either continue by yourself, or go back to the village and pay for a B-rank or up."

Tazuna begged them for forgiveness, then explained he needed their help. His village couldn't afford a B-rank, they were too poor, but they needed him there. He begged them to help him, and told them he absolutely needed them.

"Let's just help the poor man, we managed to beat those enemies, so we can beat the next one. No thanks to SOME PEOPLE." Gaara said, looking at Minato and Kakashi, who's eyes just twitched.

"Yeah, let's help him, his village needs it!" Naruto said.

"Hn." Sasuke said, in... agreement?

"Well, if Naruto and Sasuke want to, then we should go!" Sakura said.

"Well... if the kids want to help, then I suppose we could continue the mission."Kakashi said.

"Kakashi! We can-"

"Oh Minato, don't get your panties in a knot. Live a little! Don't you want to go on something other than a D-rank? Because if we go back, that's what we'll be doing for the next few months even though this wasn't our fault." Kakashi said.

"Oh fine." Minato said.

The kids cheered and ran ahead, and they all continued on like before. Except for one difference. All of them were on edge, wondering what would happen next...


End file.
